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August 22, 2007

"Lightning damages temple" - That was close!

Here is an article from today's Deccan Chronicle...now I understand what happened to me.

Chennai, Aug 21: A portion of the Raja Gopuram, of the famous Kapaleeswar temple in the city was damaged after it was struck by lightning Tuesday evening. The Nasi Thalai on the gopuram broke and fell on the Lakshmi idol adorning it, damaging it partially. No one was injured in the incident.A special parihara pooja was performed following the incident. The routine rituals and poojas were not delayed, a temple official said. According to temple sources, the lightning struck the Raja Gopuram at 6 p.m. The devotees noticed that the Nasi Thalai was broken and had fallen on the Lakshmi idol The asbestos sheet under the temple tower was also partially damaged.

Devotees lined up in long queues to see the damaged portion of the Raja Gopuram and participated in the poojas performed. “The damaged Lakshmi idol and Nasi Thalai will be repaired on August 23,” Mr Devendiran, executive officer of Kapaleeswar Temple said speaking to this newspaper. The joint commissioners of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR & CE) department Dhanapal, Jayaraman, Nalli Kuppusamy Chetty, chairman of the board of trustees, deputy commissioner of police A G Maurya and other temple trustees inspected the tower.

The Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore is a very ancient temple. The original temple was submerged under the sea and a new temple was built in its place. There are separate sannadhis for several deities such as Vinayagar, Annamalaiyar, Murugan, and Saneeswaran. There are several other deities such as Durga, Dakshinamurthy, Chandikeswarar located within the main Sannadhis of Kapaleeswarar and his consort Karpagambal. The temple tank lies opposite the tower. Karpagambal is said to have worshipped the Lord in the form of a peacock and hence the area came to be called Mylapore.